This is my genre research for this project
Wednesday, 17 September 2025
Pre Production: Genre Research
Weekly progress + Plan
This is the weekly progress for this term's project
Week 1
For week 1, we did preliminary research, talked about the different genre options and discussed which we would do. I was absent due to some exams so I had to ask my teammates in order to catch up with the topics and things that were discussed. My original groupmates were changed around and I ended up with different teammates and we ended up choosing rock/alt rock.
Week 2
This week we are continuing our project genre research. We helped each other improve our research and finished it to be due this thursday. I need to be more specific with my answers, and im currently working on my research design to make it more appealing and easier to read, as well as doing more research to make my research more detailed, organized, and varied.
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
My team
This is my team for this term's music video project
Eileen: https://eileen-regentsmedia.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Final Documentary and Thumbnail
This is our Final Documentary and Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Final Documentary Opening
Thumbnail Research and Development
This is our thumbnail research and development for our documentary. The research was done by Arnold, as for the development, I did the work.
RESEARCH (Arnold)
The thumbnail above is half an image of a child in black and white and half an image of a grown man with the title, "Making a murderer" in bold. I think the title and the image works together to imply how a seemingly innocent child, could turn into a ruthless maniacal murderer. I think my team could take the mirroring contrasting image idea and input it into one of our sketches.
The thumbnail above shows a feminine silhouette with a masculine figure overlaying her head alongside the thumbnail “Worst EX Ever”. I think this implies how the male figure presumably her ex boyfriend, invaded her life in a bad way and made it hard for her to escape him since he is always in her head. I think the gothic, gritty, disturbing tone of this thumbnail could be implemented in our thumbnail since it is similar to our ideas.
The thumbnail above shows a mirrored image contrasting between two person whom I believe is the same person, the other half of the image is a woman overlayed with red tint which connotates evil, paired with the ominous title “what Jennifer did” it leaves the audience wondering if she aka “Jennifer” did something bad. I think we could take inspiration from the title and how the image is set up.
Media Studies Thumbnail Research & Development by ss VIEW PRESENTATIONCritical Reflection (CR)
This is my CR for this term's documentary project.
CR 1 - How do your products represent social groups or issues?
CR 2 - How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
CR 3 - How do your products engage with the audience?
CR 4 - How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
We were asked to make a documentary opening. We chose crime documentary as the genre and targeted teenagers to young adults, Indonesian/Asian demographic, and others who live in South Asia, especially Bali, Indonesia. Me and my team researched, developed and created a crime documentary surrounding teenage toxic relationships through obsession, coercion and control. It is named, "Sweet Poison: A Love that Kills."
To keep our documentary distinctive whilst still maintaining consistency, we focused on developing a clear style that audiences would recognize. For example, the title, "Sweet Poison: A Love that Kills" is written in the font Giveny serif, which connotes elegance or luxury masking hidden danger. The burnt transition effect also plays a role in suggesting the unmasking of decay and poison underneath a seemingly normal surface. (fig. 1) Meanwhile, the thumbnail centers around a coffee mug, with dramatic dark lighting to signify hidden alluring threat, and highlight the sinister themes of obsession and control. By maintaining dark, muter tones with grain accents, our documentary branding mirrors typical Netflix documentaries and makes its genre clear to viewers. Moreover, based on David gauntlet's theory of identity, audience can think about their own relationship and their views on trust.
fig. 1
My research into documentaries such as, "Lover Stalker Killer" and "American Murder: The Family Next Door" helped me revise and familiar myself with technical elements such as detective narration, old visuals, and eerie non-diegetic sounds. Conforming to these conventions help audiences recognize the genre. However, I also subverted some conventions in order to create originality. For example, while many crime documentaries focus on older or married couples, my product centers around a young couple, making the same dangers relatable to teens. Using a cup of coffee as the weapon is also a way to challenge the conventions. Turning an everyday harmless object into a deadly symbol. Furthermore, instead of following the flat, professional detective narration, I decided to layer the dialogue when highlighting ava's obsession in order to add layers to her personality and be more enticing. This reflects Gauntlet's theory of representation as my character has depth and her own complexities that audiences can decode in different ways.
My product engages with the audience by combining traditional features with more modern digital culture. According to Gerbner's cultivation theory, repeated exposure to conventions such as slow-paced editing, detective narration, and dark setting encourages audiences to believe a story belongs to the genre. We also added Gen-Z specific elements in order to attract younger audiences such as by creating a fake Instagram page-showing her party lifestyle, extroverted and rebellious personality as well as details from her user and bio (fig. 2)-, using teen actresses and using slang. This allows for balance in Blumler and Katz's uses and gratification theory: appealing to audience who watch for surveillance (to gain information regarding the case or the dangers it represents), diversion (entertainment purposes), personal identity (reflecting on their own relationships), and social interaction (encouraging discussion around possessiveness, obsession, and trust). The thumbnail also helps hook the audience's curiosity, prompting them to question, 'what's this about?' and 'how will this end?' (Hermeneutic code).
fig. 2
My product explores the issue of toxic relationships and the dangers of control and obsession through the character, Ava. She is portrayed as a "possessive, controlling girlfriend" representing the toxicity in an unhealthy relationship in Stuart Hall's representation theory. We showed this by giving tiny details that hints at who she truly is; her Instagram bio that hints at her need for control represents a darker side of gen z relationship culture, her username which highlights her ego to self-serve, and seemingly perfect appearance (suggested by her posts and the Giveny font that implies luxury) shows how controlling behaviors can blend in and be normalized, even romanticized in the media but in reality can cause a harmful impact. I also replaced one of the 'A' in her user as a 4, which symbolizes death, correlating to her case. Additionally, the concept of drugging someone using a mundane object such as a coffee mug highlights women's vulnerability in everyday situations. We linked this issue of gendered violence, and subverted it the other way around, in order to point to issues of manipulation, coercion, and trust instead of gender. Based on Stuart hall's audience reception theory, I also acknowledge that different types of audience would perceive this message differently. For dominant reading, audience would perceive this as a warning for toxic love, while oppositional reading would perceive it as over exaggerated and negotiated reading would agree with its message to a point whilst still sympathetic with ava's rebellion
Monday, 8 September 2025
Monday, 1 September 2025
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